The Hamilton Ave Journal 10.27.07: Volume 1 – Issue 5

And where is Hamilton Ave? That is the location of the WWE Production Studio in Stamford, CT, and thus the most powerful place in the wrestling world. Besides, The East Main Street Journal just does not have the right ring to it.

Who am I? I am JP Prag: consultant, entrepreneur, businessman, journalist, and wrestling fan.

Now, ring the bell because the market is open.

Lead Story: Third Brand Survives Another Year
Last week, the WWE began to make contingency plans for ECW should the SciFi Network (owned by WWE partner NBC-Universal, a subsidiary of GE) not renew their contract. As such, they announced a “talent sharing” initiative with SmackDown!, a streaming replay of the show on WWE.com, and a series of online articles devoted to the future of ECW, all painted in a positive light. These contingency plans served a dual purpose, though, as they also sent a message to the SciFi network that the WWE had other plans should SciFi play hardball with the contract.

This seems more likely what was happening behind the scenes. The WWE and SciFi were most likely in the midst of negotiations for another year, and SciFi wanted to pay a lower fee for ECW, especially since ratings had cut in half. The WWE showed SciFi that they had other outlets for getting revenue from ECW and did not need SciFi as much as SciFi wanted the program. That is why on Tuesday the two were able to which a quick settlement that saw ECW renewed through the end of 2008. Although terms of the deal have not been released, it is most likely that SciFi will be paying the same fees for ECW with a slight adjustment to inflation while the WWE has promised more SmackDown! talent to appear on the show.

Meanwhile, ECW saw a 16.7% increase in ratings this week, most likely more due to less baseball and new programming available this week, as well as the cooling weather sending more people indoors. ECW remains the #1 viewed cable program on Tuesday nights at 10pm in the 18-34 year old demographic, and should see similar ratings in the weeks ahead.

Also of note, ECW and TNA iMPACT will go head-to-head on Thursday December 6, 2007 due to ECW being preempted that Tuesday. The last time iMPACT went head to head with a WWE program, ratings dropped to 0.6. It will be an interesting week to see if TNA loses viewers in its second hour, is able to maintain them, or if people start watching ECW and switch over to iMPACT while surfing the channels.

ECW will also be preempted on Tuesday December 25, 2007 (Christmas Day). No recap show is planned as with RAW and SmackDown!. Most likely, all television ratings will be down with the holiday.

A Continual Investigation of HR at WWE
The Journal has spent the past several weeks examining the human resource and culture issues at Titan Towers and the WWE in general. This week, former World Heavyweight Champion Booker T was interviewed by Brian Fritz of the Orlando Sentinel and had this to say:

My time on Smackdown, it was a great run… It was beautiful, just pushing for whoever was the champion over there. We really didn’t care who was the champion. There were no politics, no hassles. Then going back over to Raw, it was like a dark cloud coming over. I just knew it wasn’t the place where I wanted to be. There are a whole lot of politics. You have to deal with a lot of garbage.

Mr. Huffman makes an interesting point here. If we look at the WWE as a holding company and RAW and SmackDown! as truly different organizations, than each of these organizations has a different culture. This means that the WWE has not been successful in creating a single climate across its satellite units, but has actually created a noticeable divide among its workers. Now, the Journal will not judge which is a better environment because different types of people thrive in different environments. It just poses an interesting question to the WWE.

Does the WWE want a single environment were workers can move from brand to brand with little noticeable difference in their work environment? Or do they want to let these cultures develop separately and give wrestlers more control over where they work? That is, should wrestlers be allowed to try out and sign contract with specific brands? Although the WWE does not want to create a cost war inside of its own organization, the wrestlers may appreciate the appearance of choice in their work environments.

Competition in the Sports DVD Market
The WWE has long dominated the Sports DVD sales market, quietly taking control of a small piece of the retail word. Over the past two years, things have changed significantly. Here is this week’s Billboard Recreational Sports DVD Sales chart:

1. WWE: SummerSlam 2007
2. 2001 FedEx Orange Bowl National Championship
3. TNA: Hard Justice 2007
4. UFC 70: Nations Collide
5. Ultimate Fighter: Season 1
6. UFC Presents: The Ultimate Fighter 2
7. Pride Fighting Championships: Pride Fighting Legacy: Volume 5
8. UFC 69: Shootout
9. WWE: Wrestlemania 23
10. WWE: The Ladder Match

MMA has made tremendous headway in taking away spots from the WWE, with UFC mostly dominating the list. From time-to-time, TNA would have an item in the Top 10, but this week is particularly interesting. The number three spot is the highest any TNA DVD has appeared. The Journal covers more sales information in the Money and Investing section, so it is known that TNA is event dependent. A ranking this high is a good sign of change for TNA as sales of recent events have not faired quite as well as in 2006.

TNA Solidifies Relationship in Japan
As reported last week in the Journal, TNA began a new relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling. As part of that agreement, TNA will be sending Rhino, Senshi, Christopher Daniels, and Ron Killings to the “Interpromotional Wars” show on November 11, 2007 in Japan. Interestingly, this is the same day as the TNA Genesis PPV, meaning these wrestlers will not be able to appear.

That is, unless there is some type of satellite share feed as part of their agreement. This could be an interesting opportunity for TNA as they could have “simulcast” programming during their PPVs, giving them a unique position in the market. It has been no secret that Japanese programs have been taking over American programs for years, especially in animation and children’s shows, so this may be a logical step for TNA to continue to build their unique product proposition to the market.

As with stocks, here in the Journal we track the progress of television ratings. If ratings are the barometer by which we judge the product, then over the course of 52 weeks we should be able to see patterns, trends, and anomalies. Please note that gaps in the chart below are due to data not being released/available.

For the week ending Friday October 26, 2007, here are the current standings of our shows:

RAW
Close (This Week’s Rating): 3.3
Open (Last Week’s Rating): 3.3
Percentage Change: ▲ 0.6%
52-Week High: 4.3
52-Week Low: 2.5
All Time High: 8.1
All Time Low: 1.8

SmackDown!*
Close (This Week’s Rating): 2.7
Open (Last Week’s Rating): 2.6
Percentage Change: ▲ 3.8%
52-Week High: 3.3
52-Week Low: 2.2
All Time High: 5.8
All Time Low: 1.0

What are the top ten selling items for the WWE? From WWEShopZone.com:

1. Triple H Grey Skulls T-Shirt
2. Triple H the Conqueror T-Shirt
3. Undertaker WrestleMania 23 Commemorative Plaque
4. WWE Superstar Stocking
5. WWE Actions Trading Cards
6. WWE Black Gift Bag
7. No Mercy 07 DVD T-shirt Package
8. Randy Orton Skull T-shirt
9. John Cena American Made Muscle Sweatband Set
10. Hulk Hogan Red Hulkamania Bandana

And the impact without John Cena around immediately becomes visible. Luckily, it appears that the WWE has some early holiday shoppers as they continue to sell the Black Gift Bag and now the stocking. Although the WWE’s list is now dominated by products, it is still not centered around events live TNA’s list, making the WWE less dependent on single occurrences and showing they can sell their products even without specific stars or dates attached to them.

TNA requires a little bit more research. Their website does not release Top Ten lists, so the Journal does a general search for a space and sorted by most popular. They came up in order as:

1. The Original 3 DVD Set
2. Against All Odds 2007 DVD
3. Sacrifice 2007 DVD
4. Special Edition Bound For Glory Autographed Poster
5. Christian Cage Instant Classic T-shirt
6. Best of the Bloodiest Brawls 2003
7. Against All Odds 2006 DVD
8. String Crawl T-shirt
9. No Surrender 2006 DVD
10. TNA Crest Logo T-shirt

Per usual, TNA’s list is dominated by DVDs, but this week the new sets introduced last week have already fallen off the top ten, returning the list to the usual suspects. What will it take for TNA’s list to get a fresh set of products? Will Christian Cage’s DVD make an impact on the list next week? As one of only two stars with an individual item on the list, it will be interesting to see if he can be one of the first to have two on the list at the same time.

Do you know a wrestling event coming up? Send one in to The Hamilton Ave Journal and we’ll be sure to add it to the list.

No critical pieces were written this issue, so instead worth your read this week is: